'Jassi'... the trend setter |
They may not yet be perceived as strong enough to take on home
grown soap sagas, but the impact of the success of the desi adaptation
of Hispanic show Yo Soy Betty La Fea, aka Jassi Jaissi
Koi Nahi is considerable enough to make one sit up and take
note.
The next big show set to make a splash on Sony Entertainment Television
is Spanish tele-novella adaptation Hum 2 Hain Na. Although
the promos of H2HN have been on the airwaves for some time
now, the channel is pretty tightlipped about the show. Industry
sources say the show revolves around two 11-year-old twins Kareena
and Koel, played by Hansika Motwani. A spoilt brat versus a sensitive
and perceptive young girl story a la The Parent Trap, H2HN
is a daily scheduled for the Monday through Thursday 8 pm slot.
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Brought up in an elegant mansion, Kareena dreams of becoming a
famous singer but lacks talent. At a town fair, she accidentally
hears a voice she wishes she had. The singer not only turns out
to be her age, but also happens to be her lookalike. Koel, hailing
from a middle class family is sensitive and perceptive. Though Kareena
and Koel are poles apart, they hit it off almost instantaneously
when they meet. They decide to keep their friendship a secret. That
is the basic premise of the story. The daily also stars small screen
stars Shruti Ulfat and Cezanne Khan.
Star Plus' next launch Dekho Magaar Pyar Se, set for, again,
an 8 pm slot and slated for launch on 26 July, is also a Spanish
tele-novella adaptation of My Sweet Fat Valentina and has
an uncanny resemblance to the Jassi... format - ugly ducking
turning into a beautiful swan.
The channel is also to launch another Spanish tele-novella in the
7:30 pm slot, to be produced by UTV. Both the channel and the production
house acknowledge that they are launching a new show, but they aren't
as keen on divulging the storyline.
"The business objective is simple: 'If it works, it sells'.
And not necessarily in terms of ratings. Look at Jassi...,
though the show hasn't delivered much, it has amazing recall,"
opines Optimum Media Solutions executive vice-president Amit Ray.
Carat India general manager Pratibha (Pat) Vinayak has a different
take on it, "The soap trend is on the decline. Although it
is not showing on the ratings, I think the audience is looking for
some change. While it would be foolish to touch already working
soaps, the smarter way is to bring on newer programming, so as to
give the viewers a wider choice."
Starcom Worldwide general manager - Investment and New Initiatives
Manish Porwal offers, "I wouldn't call Spanish tele-novella
adaptations as a trend. It is rather like a variance. The saas-bahu
sagas will continue to rule but since we as an audience aren't
really keen on originality, I think we will do fine with adaptations.
We have adapted to quite a few cultures in our traditional practices.
So the adaptations are likely to go well with our audiences."
"The key word here is adaptation," Ray emphasises. "A
successful adaptation like Jassi... has been sufficiently
spruced up to suit Indian sensibilities. If you look at the original
version, the gay designer's character has a lot more to do. In the
Indian version, he is not even shown to be a gay, but is rather
just an effeminate character," he adds.
"(But) I don't think that the viewer is so drastically different.
Be it in Bihar or in LA, television is essentially just a time pass,"
Ray concludes.
Vinayak opines, "It makes sense to adapt something that has
been working well elsewhere. The programming might be a trial and
error method, but here you already have a formula - essentially
a family drama - which has been accepted by audiences elsewhere.
So the smart thing to do is adapt it to the Indian context."
Although, most planners just see it as a natural trend that has
emerged after the critical acclaim of Jassi..., they don't
seem quite as confident of the genre's long-term prospects.
"As soon as there is a hit in a genre, the enthusiasm to replicate
it is high. It does not guarantee that the next experiment on the
same line will also be successful," cautions Lodestar and Interface
Media's national media director Nandini Dias.
"Soaps are like blue denims, they never go out of fashion.
They will remain the staple diet, but yes the tele-novella adaptation
seems to be in vogue now. Why, we had successful adaptations earlier
as well, look at Kaun Banega Crorepati!" Porwal points
out.
Another reason why adaptations are back in vogue seems to be the
marketing and advertising prospects that they offer. "They
certainly have an edge. But advertisers are keen on getting higher
sales and greater awareness. Everything else is incidental to the
process," says Dias.
"While advertisers choose to buy soaps because they are soaps,
they are often intrigued by adaptations because they are different.
They offer varied options to advertise. Unlike soaps, quite a few
products have an opportunity of being advertised via in-serial promotions
in the adaptation shows," Porwal says.
Attack of the clones! |
Looking at the broad umbrella picture, adaptations do seem like
the flavour of the month, and not just of the Spanish kind. With
Sony's take on Beverly Hills, 90210 --- Yeh Meri Life
Hai --- getting its fair share of recall value, the channel
is now looking to launch a Dougie Howser MD adaptation
Ayushmaan . Star Plus, meanwhile, is all set to debut its take
on Batman's capers Karma on 6 August at 9:30 pm slot.
In all probability, adaptations do seem a workable proposition
with interesting advertising avenues, if adapted well. But that's
again a big If...
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